Did you feel unsettled by the heavily gimmick-based Kirby Canvas Curse? If so, Squeak Squad will be the opposite as it takes on a classic Kirby feel much like that of Kirby's Adventure. But does it fully live up to that wonderful game?
Storyline: 6/10
Yeah, this game's story is pretty weak.
On a rather peaceful day in Dream Land, Kirby is about to devour a piece
of strawberry shortcake. Suddenly, a blur flashes by and the cake is gone.
Kirby almost instantly suspects King Dedede to have done it, so he sets
off to his castle to get the cake back. But when he gets there and gives
Dedede a good pummeling, he says that he knows nothing of shortcake. Just
then, a gang of mouse thieves called the Squeaks shows up. As they are
the ones who stole the shortcake, and Kirby goes after hem to retrieve
it. You'd know my criticisms by now; a whole game about getting back some
strawberry shortcake; makes it looks like Kirby was just looking for an
excuse to go on a rampage. A normal person would let a shortcake theft
slide, but we're not talking about normal people, we're talking about Kirby.
But even so, the plot is just... meh.
Gameplay: 9/10
The style of this game will be familiar
to most Kirby fans: sidescrolling, copy abilities, and such. It's good
to get back to the less-complicated Kirby formula. However, what fun would
the game be if it didn't have any innovations? While Kirby is adventuring
on the top screen, the touch screen harbors the Copy Palette. When Kirby
gets an ability or an item that is trapped in a bubble, the bubble goes
right to the Copy Palette. Whenever Kirby needs it, just tap the bubble
a few times and Kirby will gain the advantages of whatever is in the bubble.
It's quite convenient! Additionally, ability mixing from Kirby 64 is back...
well, kind of. There lies the problem. Most of the time when 2 abilities
are mixed, they will just produce a random ability. There are just 6 abilities
that can only be accessed through mixing, rather disappointing. But it
is almost made up for with the system of Copy Scrolls. In some treasure
chests throughout the game, Copy Scrolls for each ability can be found.
These will permanently upgrade that ability. For example, the Sleep ability
previously was completely useless, but if you get the Copy Scroll for this,
Kirby will gain some health if he uses this ability. Speaking of Copy Abilities,
I have to cover the new abilities in this game. First up is the Animal
ability, which allows Kirby to slash enemies or burrow into soft ground.
Metal will turn Kirby into a slow-moving metal titan, but he's invincible
to all attacks, much like Metal Mario. Bubble allows Kirby to capture his
enemies’ abilities in bubbles so he can add them to the Copy Palette. It
should also be noted that Magic got a great new makeover, even though it's
not a new ability. In Amazing Mirror it was just another one of those one-use
abilities that nobody cares about. Now it's an ability like any other,
allowing Kirby to use magic tricks to defeat his enemies. Additionally,
some abilities have returned after a long time; the Ninja ability comes
back all the way from Kirby Superstar, and the Hi-Jump ability is back
from Nightmare in Dream Land.
Graphics: 8/10
Surprisingly, the graphics here haven't
changed much since Kirby's past 2 titles. There isa fairly good amount
of shading, not exactly the best detail, but pretty much average DS-caliber.
The backgrounds don't suffer the detail problem though, they look great
and quite realistic, not to mention the Copy Palette on the bottom screen
looks pretty spiffy as well. The graphics are primarily just average, with
some touches of greatness.
Music and Sounds Effects: 8.9/10
This game's music consists of a good
deal of remixes from past Kirby games; Butter Building, Vegetable Valley,
and Candy Constellation are some of the reappearing tracks that were remixed
in this game. Most of them are either about equal to or better than their
original versions. Some tracks barely received a remix at all, however,
like the main theme of Kirby's Dream Land still seems all Gameboy-ish.
It should have been adapted to the DS for a better remix. It has its share
of original tunes though; those are the ones I like the best. Level 1-1
I can easily say has one of the best music pieces I've heard for years.
And the Squeak Squad battle theme? Chaotically awesome. Shame they ruined
that theme in Smash Bros. Brawl... Okay, and there's a very epic theme
for World 8-3, the last level of the game. And those are just some of the
ones I loved. Are the sound effects just as good? Well, like the graphics,
they're average, not as good as in some of Kirby's other games. And there's
isn’t that "Bang!" sound when you hit enemies real hard and it makes you
think "PWNED!" Trivial, but it did make it a little more fun beating up
enemies...
Controls: 9/10
The controls of this game are typical
and very easy to instinctively figure out. Control pad moves, A jumps,
B inhales... It's like many other past Kirby games in the series. Though
of course, it does make use to the touch screen. That's what frustrated
me a little bit, it can be somewhat unresponsive. Like if you're trying
to get an ability from the Copy Palette, you may have to tap the bubble
5 or 6 times before you finally get the ability out of there. Either it's
just my DS or it's just a sometimes quite annoying flaw.
Length: 4.2/10
This is undoubtedly the game's main
problem. With 8 worlds, most of them containing around 6 levels, you might
think the game would be quite long. If you think so, clearly you're not
much of a Kirby fan. Kirby games have picked up something of a notorious
rap in the past for being unsatisfyingly easy. Squeak Squad is no different.
While the game does have a few long levels to it, there are some very short
ones. And I mean VERY short. I mean, what is up with World 1-5? All you
have to do is go up a short distance, hit a switch, and then you're done.
For a lot of levels, I feel Nintendo didn't even give much effort at all
in designing them. Not to mention the puzzles are easy and won't be much
trouble at all to figure out. It only took me a day, nay, 4 hours to beat
the game. Unless you're very easily satisfied this game's ease will surely
make its mark on the game's overall rating.
Replayability: 6.9/10
After beating such a short game, you'd
hope there'd be lots of sidequests waiting for you. Well, for each level
there are usually 2 or 3 treasure chests that need collecting, all of which
can contain different kinds of treasures which I will explain. First there
are Spray Paints, which allow you to dye Kirby if you've gotten bored of
pink. Musical Scores will allow you to listen to various tracks on the
Sound Player. Star Seals, 5 of them, are special treasures that need to
be collected in order for you proceed past a certain point in the game.
Copy Scrolls, as I explained in the gameplay section, upgrade Kirby's various
abilities. Vitality Pieces, if 2 are collected, will extend Kirby's life
meter by a little. Hidden Door Keys will enable Kirby to enter an extra
stage in the world in which he found them. Copy Palettes will allow you
to change the design of the Copy Palette. Boss Medals are collected once
you've beaten a boss. Secret Map Pieces, if all collected, will lead Kirby
to a secret and very convenient place. Graphic Pieces will reveal up to
4 cool images, if all collected. And finally, Ghost Medal Pieces, once
all collected, will scatter a new mini-boss around the map that contains
a brand new ability. Despite all these different treasures, it will likely
only take you approximately as long as it did to beat the game to find
all the treasures. Fortunately, those treasures can do many things to help
you or do cool things.
Fun Factor!: 8.7/10
The game's fun factor surprisingly
depends a lot on which ability you're using. Even if the ability isn't
exactly great, you may find it tempting to still use. Some of the most
fun and/or great abilities would be Fighter (one of my favorite Copy Abilities
ever, by the way), Ninja, Wheel, Tornado, sometimes Cutter, and whatever
may fit your tastes the most. And although the game is very short, at least
you'll never find yourself gritting your teeth in frustration so much that
you put yourself in constant pain. (That means you, Link to the Past. D=)
Overall: 86/100
While it does bring back the simple
Kirby gameplay of the NES days, it isn't as fabulous as Kirby's Adventure.
That's not to say that it's a great game, however. Maybe if it had been
longer and more challenging, it could have matched up with Adventure or
even exceeded it. It just seems that, at parts, Nintendo was just lazy
with this game. In those hours of the main quest, however, the game will
be familiar and fun to play. Now if we could just get a Kirby game for
the Wii that doesn't get announced, unannounced, and supposedly canceled
and rescheduled over and over again...
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